CHIRP Radio Bloghttp://v2.chirpradio.org/blog/category/off-the-wall-holiday-tunes
CHIRPradio.org is a listener-supported music and arts focused community radio station in Chicago staffed by more than 150 volunteers. We blog daily about music and culture, usually focused on the city of Chicago.enchirp@chirpradio.orgCopyright 20182018-05-21T10:00:31+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Pet Shop Boys, “Birthday Boy” (2002)http://chrp.at/12PQ
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-pet-shop-boys-birthday-boy-2002#When:06:23:00Z

It's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: the Pet Shop Boys reexamine the reason for the season.

Pet Shop Boys - "Birthday Boy" (2002)

One topic that we haven't devoted much time to during this project is a pretty massive one, Christmas-wise. Of course, I'm talking about the birth of Jesus, which, connection to old pagan rituals aside, is a pretty large motivating factor behind the popularity of this whole holiday shebang. The Savior's birth also doesn't get a ton of play outside of contemporary Christian circles these days, which is a shame: in the right, non-evangelizing hands, it's a story of goodwill and perserverance that still holds relevance, even for the heathens out there.

One of my favorite modern looks at the story also rolls up a little of the Easter tale, too; found on their 2002 record Release, the Pet Shop Boys' "Birthday Boy" find the titular character celebrating his Christmas Eve birthday while confronting his imminent death at the hands of unnamed assailants.

The best explanation for the song is found buried in an old interview with Tennant and Lowe from issue #25 of their fan club newsletter Literally. In it, Tennant describe the song's subject as "someone who's killed out of hatred and whose killing changes everything." Tennant's Christ figure isn't just Jesus Himself; the song's "birthday boy" also represents a pair of modern martyrs. Tennant continues:

[P]eople die for our sins. Stephen Lawrence dies for the sin of racism. Matthew Shepherd dies for the sin of homophobia. And in doing that they make people confront those sins and they help to cleanse the sin away, and they become Christ-like figures.

The most haunting moment comes at the end, when the song fades away with a snatch of the classic carol "In The Bleak Midwinter." It's Tennant's last, macabre reminder, that "[while] carols [are] being played in the shops... in some dark street some boy's just been murdered." By setting the action at the holidays, "Birthday Boy" challenges the good people of the world, Christian or otherwise, to own up to and reconcile the safety of their Christmastime comfort with the victims out there whose names, in death, might inspire change.

]]>2015-12-16T06:23:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: “What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’)” (1936)http://chrp.at/12pj
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-what-will-santa-claus-say-when-he-finds-every#When:08:00:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Louis Prima buys Santa a brand new zoot suit.

Louis Prima's been a source of fascination for me ever since I picked up my first greatest hits comp in high school. However, since those collections usually give the lion's share of the tracklist to his big-band and Vegas showman incarnations, I'm still pretty rusty on his pre-'40s output. At least, that's the excuse I give myself for not discovering his contribution to the Christmas canon until just this year. Recorded with his New Orleans Gang band in 1936, "What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin')" redirects the power of Prima's 1936 triumph "Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing)" into a North Pole setting. I almost wish we'd gotten this one later in his career; although it's a delight, and a great artifact of its time, it's also a fairly straight-ahead recording. I'd love to hear a version of this done by an older Prima even more secure in his bombast and zaniness (not to mention backed by Sam Butera, Keely Smith, and other latter-day heavyweights). That said, this is still essential listening for anyone even remotely interested in pre-rock pop music of the 20th century.

]]>2015-12-08T08:00:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Bobby (Boris) Pickett &amp; The Crypt-Kickers, “Monsters’ Holiday” (1962)http://chrp.at/12pm
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-bobby-boris-pickett-the-crypt-kickers-monster#When:05:14:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Boris and the Crypt-Kickers celebrate Christmas in Transylvania.

You've got to give it to the late Bobby Pickett: when he found something he was good at, he stuck with it. While most people recognize his work with the 1962 hit "Monster Mash," fewer realize that "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers recorded two albums' worth of song-stories about Dracula, Igor, and the rest. (Before anyone asks: yes, that includes a studio recording of Drac's "Transylvania Twist"). This being the days of the novelty song, the gang also found time to cut a Christmas single. "Monsters' Holiday" finds Pickett resuming his best Boris Karloff impression to detail a failed plot by the monsters to rob Santa of his precious gifts. Santa's cool, though, so everyone ends up learning a lesson (and getting a present) without the need for bloodshed or ancient hexes. Now, I'll admit: no one's Christmas is going to be ruined for not hearing this song. However, for those of us who could always use an extra month of Halloween, it's a welcome addition to the playlist.

]]>2015-12-08T05:14:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: The Descendants, “Christmas Vacation” (1985)http://chrp.at/12kx
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-the-descendants-christmas-vacation-1985#When:05:25:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Milo needs to return his ex's gifts.

The Descendants - "Christmas Vacation" (1985)

Back me up, college kids: after a few days at home, winter break is a drag. Being home at the holidays when you're young just serves as a reminder that you don't belong there anymore: your parents have new routines, your friends have new inside jokes, and your new life is chilling under the snow back on campus. It's basically Less Than Zero without the heroin and snuff films. Listening to "Christmas Vacation" by the Descendents immediately puts me back in the mindset of those nothing-feels-good trips back home.

Released on 1985's aptly titled I Don't Want to Grow Up, the song mostly deals with an unexpected breakup, but the title, combined with lines like "she needs beer/ she doesn't need me," calls to mind memories of late Decembers in hometown basements, complete with warming Busch Light and your high-school crush and the desperate feeling that you have no good reason to feel so sad. Looking back, the timing makes sense; I Don't Want to Grow Up was the first Descendants record after singer Milo Aukerman finished college, so the memories of his own weird, liminal nights might've been fresh in mind. Regardless of intention, one fact remains: before the band started selling novelty Christmas sweaters, they sold the far-more-powerful right to mope right through the holidays.

]]>2015-12-07T05:25:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Erotic Drum Band, “Love Christmas Style” (1980)http://chrp.at/12k1
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-erotic-drum-band-love-christmas-style-1980#When:03:49:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Canadian Christmas goes full disco.

Erotic Drum Band - "Love Christmas Style" (1980)

Even though they reside in the Land of Always Winter, Canadians have contributed shockingly few songs to the holiday music canon. Over the course of this project, I think I figured out the reason why: someone already recorded the country's greatest possible holiday tune. Dubbed the Erotic Drum Band, studio musicians M. Campanozi and Peter Di Milo produced catchy, but otherwise unheralded, disco beats for a few years in the late '70s. Most importantly, however, they produced "Love Christmas Style." The song is essentially a recut of their not-quite-a-hit "Love Disco Style," with the addition of holiday-themed lyrics and a persistent (though not unwelcome) sleigh bell. It's also one of the few Christmas songs that's geuninely danceable. I can only imagine busting this out at an office holiday party for some cinematic, in-your-face move-busting in the face of a terrible boss or two. Forget "Wonderful Christmastime"; if you're looking for a little Trudeau-era excess, just glance north toward Toronto, where (I assume), this plays over a loudspeaker between Canadian Thanksgiving and the Epiphany.

]]>2015-12-06T03:49:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Lambert, Hendricks, &amp; Ross, “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie” (1962)http://chrp.at/12ft
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-lambert-hendricks-ross-deck-us-all-with-bosto#When:23:28:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross celebrate Christmas the Walt Kelly way.

Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross - "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie" (1962)

Christmas carols thrive on tradition, with the best ones earning (or steadily worming) their way into the seasonal canon by sheer repetition. For a guy like Walt Kelly, that made them fair game for a little good-natured scrutiny. As he so often did as the creator of Pogo, Kelly combined his distrust of complacency with deftness at wordplay to ask his readers a simple question: have you ever given any thought to the words of those songs you sing? The animals of the Okeefenokee Swamp did, making up for their lack of an authorized hymnal by cobbling together words for a tongue-twisting soundalike version of "Deck The Halls," here recreated by jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross on the 1962 compilation Jingle Bell Jazz. As a folk solution, it's great; this new version gives us alluring nonsense like "don't we know archaic barrel" or "tizzy seas on melon collie" while retaining, if not amplifying, the tune's original cheer. As a sociological statement, it's pretty fun, too; at the very least, it might make you appreciate the other lyrics that you've come to know, love, and take for granted. Kelly did this with other Christmas songs, too, which must've made for some disorienting holiday concerts for the swamp's out-of-town visitors.

]]>2015-12-04T23:28:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: B. Bumble and the Stingers “Nut Rocker” (1962)http://chrp.at/12Ej
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-b.-bumble-and-the-stingers-nut-rocker-1962#When:06:20:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Tchaikovsky rocks out.

B. Bumble and the Stingers - "Nut Rocker" (1962)

Before the cash-strapped orchestras of the world gave us gems like The String Quartet Tribute to Nirvana, the cross-genre appreciation ran in the opposite direction. When they weren't lending their talents to vocal acts at Rendezvous Records, the label's house band (which included esteemed session guitarist René Hall and future Wrecking Crew members Earl Palmer and Plas Johnson) scored some minor hits by adding a little rock grit to familiar classical tunes under a variety of disposable names. A few of these came out under the name B. Bumble and the Stingers, including "Nut Rocker," a rent-party-ready arrangement of The Nutcracker's "March of the Wooden Soldiers." Piano player Al Hazan sits behind the keys as the fictitious B. Bumble, heating up the ivories to the point that an actual nutcracker would combust upon contact with them. The song went all the way to #1 in the UK, succeeding despite the BBC's contemporaneous restriction on songs that altered or made light of the best-loved classics. This is all a long-winded way of saying that, the next time someone suggests popping Arthur Fiedler on the stereo fo the Nth time this season, queue this up and boogie instead.

]]>2015-12-04T06:20:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Teresa Brewer, “Ebenezer Scrooge” (1953)http://chrp.at/14bj
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-teresa-brewer-ebenezer-scrooge-1953#When:21:00:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Teresa Brewer sings the theme song for the cartoon Charles Dickens never made.

Teresa Brewer - "Ebenezer Scrooge" (1953)

What if, instead of a timeless novella that teaches lessons of compassion, big-heartedness, and the power to affect late-in-life change, A Christmas Carol had instead been a Mr. Magoo-style cartoon? Although that's a question no one's ever thought to ask, journeyman songstress Teresa Brewer did her best to answer it in this 1953 b-side to the better-known "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Although she never became a steady chart-topper (despite scoring two Number One singles between 1950-52), Brewer knew how to sell a novelty song; here, she plays younger than her age (then 22), adding a not-unwelcome scoop of sweetness to writer Danny DiMinno's kiddie-friendly summary of Scrooge's journey. Despite being one of the season's most well-loved tales, A Christmas Carol doesn't pop up too often in latter-day pop songs, making this track a welcome anomaly. This wasn't the only weirdo Christmas tune she recorded in 1953, either; check out "Too Fat For The Chimney," the b-side of her single "I Just Can't Wait Till Christmas" that chides St. Nick for his two-packs-of-Oreos-a-day habit.

]]>2015-12-03T21:00:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Paddy Roberts, “Merry Christmas You Suckers” (1962)http://chrp.at/146f
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-paddy-roberts-merry-christmas-you-suckers-196#When:16:03:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Paddy Roberts thinks your Christmas pudding is stupid.

Paddy Roberts, "Merry Christmas You Suckers" (1962)

If South African comedian/crooner Paddy Roberts was huffy about Christmas creep in 1962, I'd hate to imagine the heartburn he'd get over the holidays of 2015. Then again, though an updated version of "Merry Christmas You Suckers" might feature a few bombs tossed toward Black Friday and elves on shelves, the continued relevance of the original and its snide sentiments might just mean that Christmas has always been something of a pain in the ass. Over a lilting waltz, Roberts pokes holes in the holidays plans of the man in the red-and-green flannel suit, gleefully exposing the negative side of everything from holiday boozing to visits to Santa. It's a refreshing piece of self-schadenfreude during a season when it's easy to take things too seriously, but even Roberts (sort of) comes around in the end; after all, when you're under the threat of mutually assured global annihilation (also, depressingly, still a real issue), who cares if that eggnog makes you fat?

]]>2015-12-02T16:03:00+00:0025 Off-The-Wall Holiday Tunes: Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, “It Happened in Sun Valley” (1941)http://chrp.at/13-1
http://chirpradio.org/blog/25-off-the-wall-holiday-tunes-glenn-miller-and-his-orchestra-it-happened-in#When:19:43:00ZIt's Christmas at CHIRP Radio, and we're looking for a cure for the common carol. Instead of bending to the will of the average 24-hour holiday muzak stations, we're spending the season unearthing a bunch of winter-approved tunes that you probably haven't heard for a while (or maybe even ever). Today: Glenn Miller takes his orchestra skiing.

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, "It Happened in Sun Valley" (1941)

My love of seasonal music is well-documented on this blog, and not limited to songs specifically dealing with Christmas and New Year's. Since this countdown begins at the point in December furthest from actual Christmas morning, I figured we could start with a track honoring plain old winter. Written and recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra for their 1941 feature film debut Sun Valley Serenade, "It Happened in Sun Valley" doesn't necessarily pack the Great American Songbook staying power of the movie's other songs, which included "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "Moonlight Serenade," and "In the Mood." However, a song doesn't have to rank among the unimpeachable classics to be a pretty great holiday tune. Like "Jingle Bells" before it and "Sleigh Ride" after it, Miller's song paints a picture of romance blossoming during a wintertime romp, trading the one-horse open sleigh for the sleek skis and posh slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho. It's a pop paean to health and heartiness, and a catchy reminder that, despite the short days and plummeting temperatures, there's still life to be lived outside. As one YouTube commenter pointed out, it also gave us the enduring image of Glenn Miller trying his damnedest to look natural while throwing a snowball on cue, which is a gift in and of itself. You can still ski the slopes of Sun Valley today; according to this afternoon's weather report, 23 of the area's 80 trails are open and ready for runs.